THIS WEEKEND Booze
and babes were still in high demand as the teen sex comedy Superbad
ruled the North American box office for the second straight
weekend despite the arrival of a handful of new releases. Most of the debuting
films were met with disappointing sales since ticket buyers spent their
time and money catching up on popular holdover titles which commanded the
top three spots.

The supercool kids of Superbad remained
the leaders of the pack with a weekend gross of $18M, according to final
studio figures, falling 45% from last weekend. After ten days, the Sony
smash has taken in an impressive $68.6M and could be on its way to $120M
or more. That would give the raunchy hit a domestic gross nearly seven
times its production cost of $18M. Superbad is
the first summer film to spend back-to-back weekends at number one since
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
which bowed over Memorial Day weekend in May. Sony has now claimed
the number one film nine times in 2007, more than any other studio.

Rising one spot to second place was Matt Damon's latest assassin flick
The Bourne Ultimatum which slipped
only 37% to $12.5M. It was the third best fourth-weekend gross of any summer
film this year after the threequel smashes Shrek
the Third ($15.3M) and Spider-Man 3
($14.3M). With $185.3M in the bank for Universal, Bourne
has now outgrossed every James Bond film domestically (in nominal
dollar terms), both previous Bourne films,
and two of the three Mission: Impossible
pics. Ultimatum is still on track to
hit the $200M mark by the end of Labor Day weekend and will give a serious
challenge to this decade's top action films that are not driven by special
effects - Rush Hour 2 ($226.2M in 2001)
and Mission: Impossible 2 ($215.4M
in 2000).

New Line's action-comedy sequel Rush Hour 3
fell 45% to $11.7M in its third mission. The Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker threequel
has collected $108.5M in 17 days and is on track to finish with $140-145M.

In a tight race among new releases, the family film Mr.
Bean's Holiday edged out the action film War
for fourth place. Universal's G-rated comedy opened to $9.9M from 1,714
theaters for a solid $5,770 average. The Rowan Atkinson starrer has already
grossed a stellar $189M internationally. Debuting a hair behind with $9.8M
was the R-rated crime drama War which
averaged a mediocre $4,313 from 2,277 locations. Starring Jet Li and Jason
Statham, the Lionsgate release opened close to the numbers of the last
films from the two actors. Last September, Li's Fearless
bowed to $10.6M and a $5,857 average while Statham's Crank
launched with $10.5M over three days and a $4,158 average. Putting the
two together did little to broaden the audience, however.

MGM landed in sixth place with a disappointing opening for the comedy
The Nanny Diaries which grossed $7.5M.
Playing in 2,629 theaters, the PG-13 pic based on the popular novel averaged
just $2,846 per site.

The year's top-grossing non-rat toon The Simpsons
Movie dropped 37% to $4.3M in its fifth frame boosting the cume
to $173.4M for Fox. Paramount's fantasy adventure Stardust
grossed $3.9M, off only 32%, for a total of $26.4M.

Moviegoers kept going back for more musical fun as New Line's Hairspray
dipped a mere 28% in its sixth session to $3.3M and raised its overall
cume to $107.3M. Rounding out the top ten was the sci-fi flop The
Invasion which tumbled 48% in its second weekend to $3.1M. The
Warner Bros. release has taken in just $11.5M in ten days and should end
with a miserable $16-18M.

Three national releases dumped into the late-August abyss debuted outside
of the top ten with weak results. Yari Film Group's well-reviewed boxing
drama Resurrecting the Champ starring
Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Hartnett opened with $1.7M from 1,605 theaters
for a poor $1,034 average. Universal's Latino crime drama Illegal
Tender bowed to $1.4M from 512 sites for a mild $2,785 average.
The most miserable results came from the Jon Voight film September
Dawn which grossed $901,857 from 857 playdates for an embarrassing
$1,052 per-theater average for Slowhand Releasing.

In limited release, the Mandy Moore drama Dedication
got off to a moderate start collecting $23,832 from only four venues for
an average of $5,958 on its opening weekend for The Weinstein Co.

Three films dropped out of the top ten over the weekend. Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix grossed $2.4M, down 34%,
lifting the domestic haul to $283.2M. Despite the midweek launch in July,
the fifth wizard pic should end up with a final take nearly identical to
the $290M taken in by the last installment Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire which had a Friday opening in
November which has been the most common type of launch for the franchise.

Buena Vista's family film Underdog
fell 35% to $2.5M and put its sum at $36.9M. A $42-44M final seems likely.
Adam Sandler's latest comedy blockbuster I Now
Pronounce You Chuck and Larry grossed $2M, down 44%, and gave
Universal a total of $114.3M to date. The comedian has now generated $100M
blockbusters over six consecutive years trailing only Tom Cruise whose
streak is currently at seven straight years. Look for Chuck
to end its run with roughly $120M.

The top ten films grossed $84M which was up 10% from last year when
Invincible opened in first place with
$17M; and up 8% from 2005 when The 40-Year-Old
Virgin remained in the top spot with $16.3M.

Compared to projections, Mr. Bean's Holiday
opened higher than my $6M forecast while War
bowed below my $14M prediction. The Nanny Diaries
was close to my $7M projection while Resurrecting
the Champ and September Dawn
both launched below my respective forecasts of $3M and $1.5M.

This column is updated three times each week:
Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of
the author.